It used to be so easy to bike past the Capitol Building. But lately, this task has become ever more daunting, as an increasingly dense maze of concrete barriers, police officers, and plastic fencing has sprung up. Today, I achieved my goal only after ducking under ropes, squeezing by barricades, and zig-zagging across once-pristine lawns. This, symbolic of the most recent event to rattle this town, adds one more exclamation mark to a string of memories making up my year as AGU's 2000-2001 Congressional Science Fellow.

The year began with the campaign trail, Election Night in Nashville, hanging chads, and a Supreme Court decision. And it never let up. A change in control of the Senate was followed by September 11, bomb scares, anthrax, and a 60-day course of Cipro. As a Science Fellow in the office of Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), I found myself caught in the whirlwind of these events, simultaneously fascinated by the insider view and buffeted by the blows.

With each event came a marked shift in political positioning. After the results of the general election were finally set, our bold vice-presidential campaign message transformed itself to one of a leading Senator---a Senator in the minority of a legislative body split 50-50. From here, we strove to challenge and reshape measures---with the opposition party in the Senate and the House, and the Administration, powerfully allied with each other---having little more than rhetoric to act on.

With Senator James Jeffords' unexpected announcement to switch parties, this changed abruptly. Now in the majority, our party could take the lead in directing the debate---deciding which hearings to convene, which bills to bring forward for a vote. Almost overnight, our strategy switched to protecting our legislative priorities from erosion and amendment, as we pushed friendly bills through Committee, then the full Senate, the Senate/House Conference, and---if it survived that far---to a final vote.

The shattering events of September 11 and the ensuing anthrax scares brought yet another somersault in the political atmosphere. A dreamy bipartisanship arose that only now is beginning to fade. Yesterday's initiatives were quickly buried under the new priorities of national security and anti-terrorism.

My work, to advise Senator Lieberman on energy and environmental issues, has similarly evolved. I have spent the year contributing to the senator's press releases, floor statements, and op-eds, tracking and in some cases initiating legislation, planning press events, providing guidance on votes and co-sponsorship of bills, and helping the senator to prepare for hearings on the Environment and Public Works Committee.

Initially, I focused on reclamation of contaminated industrial sites known as brownfields, water quality of Long Island Sound, and promoting hybrid cars and fuel cells. With the onset of the "energy crisis," my attentions changed to political battles over national energy policy--- issues of the California blackouts and deregulation of electricity markets, fuel economy standards for vehicles, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and offshore drilling. Now, again, these priorities have been superseded by more urgent matters.  In my case, this means the safety of drinking water supplies and the security of our nuclear power plants, dams, and pipelines against terrorist attack. Here is where my attentions will remain, at least until the next big headline shifts national priorities again.

Today, a refugee from the 7th floor of the anthrax-infected Hart Senate Building, I cluster with my fellow workers in a makeshift office, each endeavor sourly set back by the absence of files, phone lists, e-mail access, computer---all left behind in an overnight decision to close the offices indefinitely.  I envision these tools of a modern, wired office lying eerily undisturbed in a Pompeii-style time warp as we await the day of reopening. Meanwhile, I swallow the next Cipro; only 46 days to go.

Author
Kirsten Cutler (bio)

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Kirstin Banks Cutler was AGU's 2000-2001Congressional Science Fellow. She spent her term in the office of Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.).